Health Bytes

-Dick Gregory/political activist and comedian told the audience at his recent fund raiser for Hippocrates Wellness that there are three leading causes of death. They are inadequate sleep, dehydration and lack of exercise. The good news is that these are lifestyle behaviors that you can control. Simple changes can lead to positive benefits.

-In a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association those of the 46 participants who used sleep-inducting strategies spent 42% less time tossing and turning compared to those who used the sleeping pill Imovane to achieve only a 4% improvement. The study used a two week sleep restriction plan as the strategy for the non-medicated group which included waking up about six each morning, eliminating daytime napping, and waiting as long as possible before going to bed each night.

-Author Natalie Rose observes in her latest book on raw foods and detoxification that clutter on the inside (our bodies) tends to result in clutter on the outside (our lives and environment). She concludes that cleaning up our bodies often produces a powerful drive to clean up our external lives.

-According to the American Society of Nutrition and reported in the Journal of Nutrition, January 2006, researchers have found that consuming flax oil provides many of the same benefits previously associated only with fish oil. They discovered that our bodies can convert flax oil’s beneficial alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) into the longer-chain essential fatty acids, such as EPA and DPA, some of the “good fats” found in fish. This is good news for those who avoid fish.

-The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that a six-year study of 302 people between the ages of 70 and 82 found that any physical activity, even performing daily chores, helps to prolong life. Those seniors who ranked in the highest third of daily energy output experienced a 69% reduction in mortality rate.

Vol 27 Issue 1 page 33